There are many garden chores – or perhaps we’d prefer to call them “opportunities” – that are most easily accomplished during a certain window of time. In the Southeast, the fall-gardening window is open for at least three months (September through November), but in many cases we can stretch a little in either direction. None the less, that window will eventually close for the season, and we don’t want to be caught with too many chores left undone. So let’s see what specific tasks might well-deserve your attention in the next month:
The pecan gatherer is a great garden gizmo. There are other models available, including one that rolls along the ground. (Just look out for limbs that might put your picker in a bind.)
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
These Echinacea seed heads would be easy to prune off, but I’d rather leave them for the birds to find. (But the weeds around them should be pulled so as not to spread weed seed.)
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
Pellet rabbit food (not rabbit poo, which might also be called “pellets”), is a relatively inexpensive source of nitrogen to promote hot composting.
Photo Credit: Megan Bame
- Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! Whether you rake, vacuum, mow or mulch, the important thing is to get those fallen leaves off your lawn. Now, what can you do with all those leaves? (See No. 2.)
- Make compost! Compost requires a carbon source (brown stuff) and a nitrogen source (green stuff). The challenge is having enough green when you have brown and visa versa. Here’s an easy trick: Use pellet rabbit food as your nitrogen source and dead leaves as your carbon source. Alternate layers of fallen leaves, rabbit food and water in a compost bin. (A bin can be easily constructed by making a cylinder using a 12-foot length of 2- x 4-inch welded wire.) Turning isn’t required, but it does speed the process. Start making your compost now, and in 6-12 months your compost will be ready to improve your soil.
- If you’re lucky enough to have pecan trees, be sure to pick up the pecans before the squirrels do! If your back protests to all that bending, look for a handy pecan picker-upper. It’s a wire cage that helps you capture about 20 or more nuts before needing to dump them into your bag or bucket.
- Gather all your garden tools (I know mine get left here, there and yonder) and wash off all the dirt to prevent rust. (The soil itself doesn’t cause rust, but the moisture it traps can wreak havoc on your tools.) Sharpen the blades of pruners, spades, shovels and hoes, too. Remember, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
- Clean up your perennial bed. If you’ve got seed heads that might be appealing to birds in search of a meal, leave them be. Mound mulch or leaf litter around tender perennials to offer some winter protection from dropping temperatures and the wind. Remove weeds and mark the location of those perennials that die back so that you’ll be careful around their new growth come spring.
There are certainly other gardening “opportunities” that come to mind as the end of autumn approaches (planting bulbs, cleaning the gutters, etc.). Let the five tasks I’ve highlighted here get you going in the right direction, as anticipation of that seasonal window starts “falling” closed.
